Smash Ultimate DLC Ranked by Reveal Trailer
Only taking into account the trailers themselves.
12 Games
Easily the best reveal trailer. First off, it's the only trailer besides Pyra/Mythra where we didn't know it was a reveal trailer, and not only that but it was the first. It's by far the most surprisingly reveal out of all of them. Secondly, him being shown at the Game Awards fits perfectly too, as Joker is known for heists and a giant convention is.. close enough. The reveal itself also has beautiful animation. 10/10
1
If Joker wasn't as visually good, Sora would take #1. Just like Joker, you have to consider the context for Sora. He's by far the most requested character. The trailer itself on the surface is kind of simple and strange, but consider this; his trailer isn't meant to be about him, it's meant to be about Smash. Sora's inclusion wasn't just meant to represent Kingdom Hearts in Smash, it's meant to be a love letter to the fans who watched Smash reveals every time. Out of every trailer, it definietly has the biggest "here he is!" feel to it, and that's because no one really expected it, yet so many wanted it. Hell, his tagline was even "is finally here!", a line that has no connection to Kingdom Hearts. It's just meant to be a celebration for the fans. The trailer heavily focuses on the entire Smash crew more than the other trailers too. I'd say the only character who gets close is Banjo, but that makes sense since people have wanted him since Smash 64. Overall, I can't rank this is absolute highest, however I love the idea behind the trailer and what it's meant to represent. Not everyone wanted Sora, but I hope people understand WHY he was added.
2
Bias time! Steve was easily my most wanted for years. He was pretty much my most wanted immediately after I saw the reveal for Ultimate, however strangely enough, I found that most people were against him, which boggled me at the time. However as Smash hype picked up, I was able to find a community of people who wanted Steve in Smash. Eventually, this community spun off into a friend group, one I am still in today and would consider my main friend group. So let me tell you, when we were all in VC on October 1st, 2020, watching the Sakurai Presents, the reaction in that channel was indescribable. No other reveal got even close. The trailer itself on the other hand is pretty great. I like how it builds up to Steve slowly, giving small hints like the block effects or the mob eyes that only Minecraft fans would recognize, before finally revealing Steve. I like the personality Steve is given in the trailer too. Also Mario getting blown up by a creeper is peak Smash. The rest of the trailer is great, and the music choice is perfect. If I were basing this list completely on first time reaction, Steve would sweep #1. However I have to take it all into account, so he falls a bit short.
3
This is when the trailers start getting just great instead of amazing, but it's still a very solid trailer. The build up is really good, seeing Galeem get killed in one slice is threatening and intimidating, immediately making you wonder who could be powerful enough to do it. Sephiroth in the distance before One Winged Angel blares is also a great scene. Also, it's impossible to talk about this trailer without mentioning the Mario stab, one of the most iconic scenes in any Smash trailer. Just an all around great trailer.
4
I like the premise of this trailer. Remixing the Donkey Kong trailer to reveal Banjo is a genius move, and fits perfectly with Rare and all that. I also really like the scene where he poses with the Smash crew. I do not care for Banjo much though so I can't say much outside that.
5
This one is mostly for the animation, which I think is really neat and clever. I also like the inclusion of all the SNK characters, even if it was obvious who would get it. It also has a very unique beginning, focusing on the consoles. I have never played Fatal Fury before so I can't say much about its relation to the series.
6
The mountain stuff is pretty funny, and seeing multiple Smash characters just get straight up killed on screen was great. I also liked the Kirby gag. Once again, don't have much relation to Tekken so I don't care too much.
7
Her trailer is carried by animation alone. I do not care for Min Min at all.
8
While I love Hero, his trailer is kinda lame. It's cool to see World of Light again, but idk I just don't think it works that well. It's fine but I wish he got more.
9
Carried heavily by the pure shock of a Piranha Plant being in Smash. The trailer is nice too, being the only in game one for DLC. Nothing much to say.
10
Eh... it's not good but not bad. Easily the most forgettable trailer I'd say. The only thing I can say for it is that it was unexpected purely because I was praying it wasn't a Smash trailer while watching it.
11
I know Byleth and the greater Fire Emblem series has a bad reputation in the Smash community, however I want to say beforehand that this placement has NOTHING to do with that. I love JRPGs, but I've never played Fire Emblem, so I don't have any bias one way or another. With that being said, I think Byleth may have one of, if not the worst trailer in Smash history, or at the very least Ultimate. Let's start from the beginning; the context. This is the LAST DLC character for Fighter Pass 1, so it's obvious that expectations were high. The pass was already pretty solid too, with each character being a good pick and having a lot of hype around each (besides Terry maybe). You can't blame people for this expectation when it really felt like this DLC was set up to be something big. This alone made the reveal extremely disappointing. However, how about the trailer itself? Bad. Like, really fucking bad. It would've been ok if it was in a normal Direct, however this was in a Sakurai Presents. We already knew it was Smash, so the second we see the character we know who it is. And not even 5 seconds into it, we see Byleth, completely destroying any and all hype from 90% of Smash fans. If that was it though, I wouldn't care. But no, it gets worse. This trailer is one of, if not the longest smash reveal. The dialogue isn't funny, and while some jokes like the sword fighter joke were ok, the disappointment ended up muddying any good parts of the trailer. It just continues on though. The animation is fine but I'm not a fan of Three Houses' style so I can't say much. Overall though this trailer sucks and feels like it was deliberately designed to suck out hype like a vacuum. Thank god we got Fighter Pass 2, or this would be one of the most disappointing events in gaming history and I am not exaggerating.
12